It Has Been Quite Some Time

It has been a while since my last blog posting. In fact, I can't even remember what the subject of my last blog posting was without looking it up. Ah yes, what to do with myself now that I'm done with school. Since then a lot has changed in my life. My former roommate Geoff sold his house prompting me to move on and move in with my girlfriend Terra. Of course this move was the best thing that I could have done. Everything has been great. I tend to be the type of person that fears change. However, this has been the best change I could have made. It is hard to imagine that we have only been together for seven months. We feel like we have been together for a long time and at the same time, feel as if our relationship has just begun. I look forward to what the future holds for me and hope Terra will be along for the ride.

Done With School, What Am I Doing Now?

It is a great feeling to be done with school. To have accomplished something that has literally taken my whole life to achieve. Now it is time to ask, "What am I going to do now?" Well for starters I have decided to read more. Not that getting a degree from University of Phoenix did not have enough reading. In fact it had too much. I mean that I want to read more books that can be enjoyable. However, who am I to say that reading about Active Directory schemes are not enjoyable.

After years of college courses it is good to finally be able to relax to a good book. Right now I am reading a book I borrowed from my girlfriend, Clear and Present Danger. I have seen the movie starring Harrison Ford but the book has covered far more in just the first half than the movie did in its entirety. Next up I have The Ultimate Hitch Hiker's Guide which is all the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy books rolled into one. I cannot wait to read start that book which is why I'm trying to get through the book I'm on as quickly as I can. So, if those of you who actually read my blog can recommend any books, let me know.

Done at Last

Today I took my final test to finish my final class for my final three credits that I needed to graduate. I am done at last. In a couple of weeks, maybe a month from now I will have my college degree in a nice new frame to hang on my wall. It is a great relief to finally be done.

Deployed

By now my brother has arrived in Iraq. We knew this was bound to happen since Andrew made the decision to join the Army. Unless something changes he will most likely be there for the next 15 months. That would put us about 6 years since President George W. Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" on a deck of an aircraft carrier. I pray for your saftey Andrew. Come home soon.

New Photo Albums

With my recent move to using Gmail as my main source of electronic mail service, I have decided to check out the other fantastic stuff Google has to offer. I mean why not, I have blogger, Gmail, and I have started using the Google Calendar. I have played with using Flickr for photo sharing but I really didn't like the interface. So recently I have started using Picasa Web Albums. You can edit your comments and everything in the Picasa client and upload them to your web album. I don't have many pictures up now but I will be adding more as I take them. So check it out yo!

http://picasaweb.google.com/Nick.Gailfus

Um...What?!

What kind of society do we live in that requires a stroller at the mall to have this warning?


To have that kind of warning on there, someone must have done it.

10 Reasons Why it Doesn't Pay to be "The Computer Guy"

I came across this on Digg and just had to post this.

http://www.digg.com/tech_news/10_Reasons_Why_It_Doesn_t_Pay_To_Be_The_Computer_Guy

Reason #10 - Most Of Your Accomplishments Are Invisible

The computer guy never hears anyone tell him, “I just want to let you know … everything is working fine!”

The reality is that people call the computer guy when something is wrong.

As a computer guy, if you work really hard to make everything work the way that it should, and things work fine, then people believe you don’t do anything. Everything you manage to get working correctly or do perfectly will forever remain unnoticed by computer users. They’ll only ever notice that you do anything when something isn’t working correctly, and you are called upon to fix it.

Reason #9 - Every Conversation You Have Is Roughly The Same

When the computer guy dares to mention what he does for a living, the typical response is, “I have a question about my home computer…”

Or when the computer guy first hears about a widespread problem within the computer network he’s responsible for, he can barely begin to assess the problem before a dozen other people call to report the same problem.

Or when the computer guy explains a certain process on a computer to a user who is incapable of retaining the process, he will inevitably need to reinstruct the user of this same process — indefinitely.

Reason #8 - You’re An Expert Of Bleeding-Edge Technology Products, Aren’t You?

The computer guy often finds himself in situations where someone is asking him for advice on a pending investment of the technological variety.

“I heard about (some hardware or software product) that can do (something desirable) for me. I brought you these (advertisements/reviews/printouts) because I wanted your recommendation. Which would you buy?”

Although the inquiring person sincerely trusts the computer guy’s judgment over their own, in almost every instance the real objective of these meetings is to ensure their own immunity from making a risky purchase.

If it turns out to be a bad investment, and they cannot get (the hardware or software product) to do (anything desirable), then you will be their personal scapegoat — “But honey, the computer guy said I should buy it!”

Reason #7 - Your Talents Are Forcibly Undervalued

Thanks to the constantly declining price of new computers, the computer guy cannot charge labor sums without a dispute. If he asks to be paid what he is worth, he will likely be met with the “why not buy new?” argument.

That is, desktop computers are always getting smaller, faster, and cheaper. It’s possible to purchase a new desktop computer for under $400. If the computer guy spends five hours fixing a computer and wants $100/hour for his time, his customer will be outraged, exclaiming “I didn’t even spend this much to BUY the computer, why should I pay this much just to FIX it?”

Reason #6 - You’re Never Allowed A Moment’s Peace

The computer guy is so prone to interruption that he rarely finds an opportunity to work on his own problems. This is because:

1. Computers never sleep.
2. Computer problems aren’t scheduled.
3. Every problem takes time to diagnose.
4. The computer guy can only give one problem his full attention.
5. Each user believes their problem deserves attention now.

Consequently, the computer guy has a 24/7 obligation to keep critical computer systems running, while simultaneously juggling everyone’s problems. He’ll often need to forfeit any opportunities to tend to his own needs for the sake of others — because at any moment, of any day, he can be interrupted by someone who wants to make their problem his problem.

Reason #5 - People Ask You To Perform Miracles

The computer guy is often mistaken for someone who possesses the combined skills of an old priest and a young priest. I’ll sum this up easily by example:

“No, I really can’t recover any files from your thumb drive, even if you did find it after it passed through your dog.”

Reason #4 - Your Assumed “All-Knowing” Status Sets You Up To Let People Down

There is no common understanding that there are smaller divisions within the computer industry, and that the computer guy cannot be an expert in all areas. What makes things worse, is when the computer guy attempts to explain this to someone asking for help, the person will often believe that the computer guy is withholding the desired knowledge to avoid having to help.

This is somewhat related to the next reason:

Reason #3 - You Possess Unlimited Responsibility

The computer guy is expected to solve problems. It is difficult to determine the boundaries of that expectation.

Some of the oddest things that I’ve been asked to do include:

1. Use pirated software to undelete important company files.
2. Create an Intranet, after explaining I didn’t know how to.
3. Teach someone how to hide their pornography collection.

Solving problems can range from replacing batteries in a wireless keyboard to investigating why the entire building loses power at the same time every morning. Resolutions can necessitate weaving a 50-foot cable through a drop ceiling, or wriggling under a house on your belly to add an electrical outlet.

Reasons #4 and #3 boil down to this: no matter how often you want to play the role of a hero, there will always be circumstances that test the limits of your ability to be one. It’s difficult to judge when helping someone means doing something immoral, and it’s even harder to admit you are unable to solve someone’s problem — and chances are, that someone will view you as incompetent because you were unable to help them.

Reason #2 - A Life Of Alienation

People only talk to the computer guy when they need him to fix something. Also, when the computer guy approaches a user, they’ll hop up out of their chair under the presumption that he’s there to fix something — as if it would never be expected that he only wants to strike up a conversation.

The fact that the computer guy never gets a moment’s peace can also practically force him to withdraw into solitude. His co-workers don’t understand that he doesn’t want to hear about their computer problems during his lunch hour — he does that every other hour of the day. That’s why the computer guy eats lunch alone with his door closed, or goes out to eat every day — not because he’s unfriendly, but because he needs to escape the incessant interruptions.

Reason #1 - You Have No Identity

It’s an awful experience when the computer guy shows up at a neighbor’s doorstep with a plate of Christmas cookies, only to have the child who answered the door call out, “Mom, the computer guy is here!” He begs for an identity that is not directly associated with computers, but “the computer guy” label walks ahead of him — it simply cannot be avoided. I was given a name and I’d love to be addressed by it.

The Perks of Working in IT

This weekend I decided to have a geek weekend. The company I work for has Software Assurance with Microsoft on a few programs they license such as Office and Windows. This weekend I downloaded Windows Vista Enterprise from Microsoft and gave it a shot. I said goodbye to Windows XP and hello to Windows Vista. It installed basically without a hitch. Firefox does not seem to work very well with it but I will assume that will be fixed in due time. So for now I'm using Internet Explorer. So my geeky weekend went as follows. Friday I installed Vista and I have spent the rest of the weekend so far playing with its features. Last night I experimented with the voice recognition. It worked a lot better than I thought it would. I had a hard time having it write an email but if I want to spend more time on it I will. For now I don't think it would be something I would use that often. However, it is fun to say "Start Internet Explorer" and it launches. I haven't blogged in a while but I figured my geek weekend was blog worthy.

Snow?! In Mesa?!

I know I do not post that often but this event deserves to be told. IT SNOWED! That is right, it snowed. Snowed in a place where just six or so months ago it was 1oo degrees at night. Last winter there was a freak storm that caused it to snow up in parts of North Scottsdale and those foothill areas. Places where it probably is a good 3000 feet above sea level. Mesa is a good 1500 feet at the most. So, I was sitting around watching the Phoenix Suns issue another beating to another unsuspecting team when my roommate Geoff calls me. Here is how it played out.

Geoff - "Dude is it snowing there?"
Me - "What?! No. Why?"
Geoff - "Grab your camera and come to Higley and McKellips it's coming down here!"

So off I went. I was already all geared up to go grab some grub so I hurried off with camera in hand to go meet Geoff. Here are some images from the extremely rare snow fall.

New Year's Resolutions

I haven't posted in a while but I figured I'd put down my resolutions for 2007 and see if I can hold to them. If I'm still blogging in 2008 I can look back and see how I did.

1. Lose weight - I don't work for McDonald's anymore so this should be easy....right? I need to develop some will power to do so.
   
2. Graduate college - I actually will be graduating this year in 4 months!
3. Become more financially stable - Right now I feel that I'm just getting by. However, with student loan payments more than likely coming up this year, I want to be more stable.
4. Be more organized - I'm looking at my desk and wondering where the surface of it went.
5. Be more self-confidant - I need to not be afraid to tell people what is going on or how I feel...to an extent.
6. Have a social life - Stop sitting at home on a Friday or Saturday night...GO OUT!

I think that is enough for now. If I have more I suppose I can add them to the list.